8 June until 20 August 2025
Graziano Visintin
jewellery
Graziano Visintin is one of the protagonists of the group of internationally renowned goldsmiths known as the School of Padua. Even in his early works, he presented himself at the highest level, both artistically and technically. This demand on himself has accompanied him throughout his more than fifty years of creating. Influenced by his teachers Pinton, Babetto and Pavan, he expresses himself with formal rigour, almost architecturally and completely without ornamentation. He develops his pieces from the basic geometric forms of circle, square and rectangle. They are works of the greatest simplicity, elegance and restraint, made from precious materials such as gold, onyx, ivory or ebony. He retained his minimalist, very reduced style over the decades, but from the 1990s onwards his brooches and necklaces became more painterly and poetic.
Initially, he ‘painted’ in a very free and unorthodox manner with niello, which he applied gesturally to the pieces of jewellery, but also with gold leaf, which he applied in a slightly crumbled form. The seriousness and technical bravura remain, but the texture becomes more sensual and the rigour takes on a poetic depth. Around the turn of the millennium, this effect is varied once again. The gold surfaces are partly treated with hatching and, in addition to the niello and gold leaf, a touch of enamel gives the jewellery an even more painterly dimension and lends it a subtle serenity.
Graziano Visintin’s latest works, which began in the Covid time, move even more purposefully in the direction of painting, which is now the dominant stylistic device. They are based on coloured drawings that he has made over the years. The brooches appear to be framed informal paintings. The copper plates, worked with niello, enamel and gold leaf, are inserted into the silver support like small paintings or drawings. Some brooches are hatched, others are emphasised with gemstones or pearls, others show almost monochrome images painted with enamel. It is hardly surprising that Mark Rothko and Cy Twombly are among Graziano Visintin’s favourite artists.
Graziano Visintin’s works have been exhibited worldwide. They can be found in museums and collections in Pforzheim, Munich, Vienna, London, Florence, Tokyo, Padua, Graz, Nijmegen, Paris and the USA.
Angela Boeck 2025 – translated from German
